Forty years ago a documentary on Begum Akhtar was screened but it did not have her childhood history, rues her disciple Rita Ganguly, who has made a documentary on her guru’s life whom she fondly refers as ammi. “It pains me that in spite of my efforts for the past 41 years to keep her image alive, I had to fight the authorities to celebrate her as an icon.”
Before penning the script of Ae Mohabbat , she went through interviews and collected data on her life. “I collected photographs, personal interviews with her and recorded a voiceover for the documentary “Jamal-e-Begum Akhtar”… The film will capture the grandeur of pre-Independence India, the lavish courts of the Rajas, Nawabs and mehfils where musicians performed for them.” Speaking about her guru’s traumatic childhood, Rita says, Mushtari gave birth to twins Bibbi (Begum Akhtar) and Zohra but soon tragedy struck when the siblings were poisoned. “While Zora died, Bibbi miraculously survived. Then their father deserted them. Her mother used to console Bibbi that her father would return but she realised the truth. The pain of growing up without a father remained with her till her last moment.”
